Chaeles a



(No Model?) 0. A. EVA RTS.

WIGK ADJUSTER.

No. 392,547. Patentd Nov. 6, 1888..

N. PETERS Phnwlunugnphcn Washington, 0. c.

Thurs STATES Arsnr tries.

CHARLES A. EVARTS, OF MERIDEN, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO THE BRAD- LEY & HUBBARD MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

WlCK-ADJUSTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 392.5%7, dated November 6, 1888. Application filed May 21, 1888. Serial No. 274.468. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, CHARLES .A. EVARTS, of Meriden, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new Improvementin Wick-Adjusters; and I do hereby declare the following, when taken in connection with accompanying drawings and the letters of reference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, and

to which said drawings constitute part of this specification, and represent, in-

Figure l, a vertical section of the fount,show ing a side viewof the wick-adjusting mechanism with the wick in its down position; Fig. 2, the same section, showing the wick-holder and clamp as raised to a position above the neck of the fount; Fig. 3,. a top or plan view of the fount, illustrating the introduction or removal of the wick.

This invention relates to an improvement in device for adjusting the wicks of that class of lamps in which the wick is of tubular form, arranged around a central tube, commonly v called centraldraft lamps, and particu- 2 larly to that class in which the wick adj ustment is made outside the burnerthat is to say, in which connectionis made from the wick within the fount to a handle which extends through thetop of thefo unt outside the burner-- the invention having for its object to make the adjustment by means of a vertical screw stationary as to vertical movement within the fount, combined with a device for engaging the wick, which may be raised by the screw so far outside the fount as to permit engagement or disengagement to be made with the wick above the fount, and thereby avoid diffieulties which exist in wick-adjusters in which the engagement of the wick must be made within the fount; and the invention consists in the con struction as hereinafter described, and particularly recited in the claim.

A represents the fount and B the central tube, through which the central draft of air is permitted and around whiehtube the wick C is arranged. The top or neck of the fount forms an opening, D, concentric with the wick-tube, but considerably larger in diame ter than the diameter of the wick. This is a common construction of fount and central tube with the arrangement of the wick thereon, and the burner is applied over the opening around the central tube in the usual manner. The burner I do not illustrate, as it constitutes no part of myinvention. Vertically in the fount I arrange a screw, E. The lower end of the screw takes a bearing near the bottom of the fount. Its upper end extends through the fount, where it is provided with a suitable handle, F, by which it may be rotated. The screw is free to rotate, but is held against vertical movement by means of a shoulder on the screw inside the top of the fount or otherwise. The position of the screw is so far outside the burner that the fingers may be easily applied 6 to the handle F to rotate the screw, and so that it does not become heated; hence may be readily adjusted when the lamp is lighted.

Around the outside of the wick, and so as to engage therewith, is a tube, G. This tube is made to engage the wick in the usual manner, so that as the tube is raised or lowered the wick will move with it. Near the upper end the tube G is constructed with an annular groove, a. This groove is best produced by throwing out from the tube two annular ribs. The said groove is made for the purpose of engaging the tube G with the adj usting-screw. On the screw an arm, b, is arranged, through one end of which the screw works as a nut, and so that as the screw is rotated the arm will rise or descend accordingly. At its inner end the arm is turned up at right angles to form an upright, d, parallel with the wick-tube,but distant from the screw, so as to stand within 8 the range of the opening in the neck of the fount, and so that as the arm is raised the upright d may pass out. through the opening in the neck,-and so that its upper end will stand above the plane of the neck, as seen in Fig. 2. c To the upper end of the upright 65 a spring ring-shaped clamp, H, is hung, and so as to stand in a plane at right angles to the axis of the wick-tube. The depth of this clamp corresponds to the width of the groove a in the 5 wick-holding tube, and its internal diameter is no greater, but preferably less, than the diameter of the wick-holding tube in the groove. The clamp H is best made from thin steel, but may be made from any suitable elastic roo metal, and it is adapted to spring into or be removed from the groove a of the wick-holding tube. One end of the clamp is hinged to the end of the upright d, so that the clamp may swing on the uprightin a horizontal plane, as indicated in broken lines, Fig. 3; hence, by turning the screwE in one direction the clamp may be raised to a position above the neck of the fount. This completes the construction.

Its operation is as follows: The wick is applied to the inside of the wick-holding tube G in the usual manner, and the wick with that tube is then set over the central tube, B, the clamp I-I having first been raised to a position above the neck of the fount, as representedin Fig. 2, and the clamp turned to one side, as indicated in broken lines, Fig. 3. The wick with its tube is forced downward until the groove to of the wick-holder comes into the plane of the spring-clamp. Then the springclamp is returned, its open side passing onto the wick-holding tube within the groove, and so that the clamp will embrace the wick-holdcr within the groove, as indicated in Fig. 3. This clamp makes a firm connection between the wick-holding tube and the screw, so that now the screw may be turned, and force the wick downward to any desired position, as indicated in Fig. 1, and from which point it may be adjusted by turning the screw accordingly. At any time when it is desired to remove the wick the screw is turned until the clamp comes to a position above the opening in the fount. Then the clamp is withdrawn from its groove in the wick-holder, and the wickholder with its wick may be removed and replaced, as before.

This adjuster affords a convenient and easy means for adjustment, and also permits a much I do not wish to be understood in this application as claiming, broadly, the grooved wick -holding tube and the spring clamp adapted to engage therewith,as such are shown in my Patent No.387,156, July 31, 1888, in connection with a lifting-rod as the means for adjustment. Keither do I wish to be understood as claiming,broadly,ascrew-rod arranged vertically in the fount and supported against 1ongitudinal movement, but free for rotation,

combined with a device in engagement with the wick, so that by the rotation of the said screw-rod the wick may be adjusted, as such, I am aware, is not new; but

What I do claim as my invention is- In a central-draft lamp havinga central tube around which the wick is arranged and an openingthrough the neck of thefount of larger diameter than the said tube, the combination therewith of an adj usting-screw arranged vertically in the fount and supported in the fount against vertical movement, but free for rota tion, the upper end of the screw-rod extending through the fount outside the neck of the fount, an arm arranged upon said screw and extending inward toward the central tube, the said arm engaged with the screw, so asto move vertically thereon under the rotation of the screw, the inner end of the said arm turned upward to form an upright parallel with the central tube and within the range of the opening in the neck of the fount, a tubular wickholder adapted to surround and engage the wick constructed with an annular groove, and a springclamp hung upon the upper end of the said upright and adapted to spring into or be turned from the said groove in the wickholding tube, substantially as described.

CHARLES A. EVARTS.

\Vitnesses:

T. B. FAIRBANKS, H. S. SAVAGE. 

